House Speaker Paul Ryan’s office predicted Thursday that President Obama would continue to have a hard time selling Obamacare to millennials, since it’s too expensive and has cut down the number of available jobs for millions of young adults.
“Obamacare has been anything but a hit with millennials — the group has among the highest rates of uninsured in the country,” Ryan’s office said in a Thursday morning email. “This, of course, is much to the dismay of the Obama administration — that whole subsidizing thing isn’t exactly working out as planned.”
Obama is set to promote the next Obamacare enrollment period in a Thursday speech in Florida. The enrollment period starts on Nov. 1, and the administration said it expects 13.8 million enrollees.
At the same time, officials have acknowledged that millions of people remain uninsured, including many young, healthy people who are needed to make the program viable. Officials have already been floating the the idea of a government-funded healthcare option to get them covered.
But Republicans oppose that idea, and the statement from Ryan’s office indicates that the GOP will continue to focus on scaling back the law. The statement released Thursday said it suffers from a basic affordability problem for young adults.
“For starters, many can’t afford it,” he office said. “Under Obamacare, insurance companies need to sell plans to young, healthy people at steep prices to keep the system above water.”
“But in a time when students are juggling rising everyday costs, record student debt, and a sluggish job market, the last thing they need is another huge expense,” it said.
“If you’re young and healthy, why pay for something you can’t afford?” it added.
Ryan’s office also said younger people want to customize their coverage, and can’t under Obamacare. Additionally, the law is making it more expensive for companies to hire people.
“[B]ecause of Obamacare’s employee mandates, college students are now forced to choose between prioritizing their studies and paying their bills,” it said. “So basically, even if they wanted to try and make their Obamacare plan work, Obamacare itself is making it harder for them to afford it.”
